


Leadership

by SteveGarbage



Series: FEH Resplendent Hero shorts [19]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Askr (Fire Emblem Heroes), Family, Gen, Resplendent Hero, Sparring, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27491869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveGarbage/pseuds/SteveGarbage
Summary: A short story celebrating Marth's Resplendent Hero garb of Askr.
Series: FEH Resplendent Hero shorts [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722151
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Leadership

Three blue-haired heads huddled close.

"All right, what's our strategy?" Marth asked as he glanced between his two teammates.

Prince Alfonse had suggested a friendly three-on-three sparring match. He wanted to see what the Order of Heroes' newest recruit could _really_ do in a fight, not just crossing training blades in the yard with the other soldiers. Marth had agreed with a smile, suggested a friendly wager that the winner got to pick the menu for dinner tonight, and shook on it.

Alfonse had picked his sister and Commander Anna, as was to be expected. If the prince was going to take family, well, Marth might as well do the same.

"Let's take them head-on," Chrom said confidently. "I think we have the advantage."

"Don't underestimate them," Lucina disagreed, sounding a more cautious note. "They're young, but, together, the Askr trio are fearsome opponents."

Chrom gave a small shrug. "Hey, I usually leave the strategy to Robin."

"I know," Lucina said, rolling her eyes at her father. She had pushed him around the training field so much and so easily lately that she was quietly inquiring after new training partners.

"How about this," Marth butted in. "Lucina, how about you use your lance. Chrom, the sword. Lucina, you take the lead and engage with Sharena. Once that happens, Commander Anna will almost certainly peel off and try to flank you from the side since her axe has the advantage. When she does that, I'll jump in and keep her busy. Then Chrom, you take on Alfonse, and keep him divided from his sister."

"Alfonse is going to want to go after you," Lucina warned.

"I know. But if we stay strong, watch each others backs and support one another, we can't lose." Marth said with a smile, then put his hand in the center of the huddle. "For Altea."

Chrom and Lucina joined his hand, "For Ylisse," they agreed with a nod and broke the huddle.

The Askr trio was already waiting, the prince and princess side by side and Anna tucked behind them.

"Ready?" Alfonse asked as he watched with interest as Lucina set aside her sword and picked up lance and shield instead. Marth nodded.

"You're out when the other team lands a clean blow on you, got it?" Anna said.

"Let's have fun!" Sharena said as she lifted her shield and poised her spear over the top.

Marth looked at his teammates, gave them a nod and then stepped backward, falling behind Lucina's guard as she raised her own shield.

"Ready?" Alfonse asked.

"Ready," Marth agreed.

"GO!"

Lucina charged ahead first, thrusting her spear forward in the first attack into Sharena's shield, offering the fight. Alfonse leapt into action to aid his sister, sweeping his sword as Lucina knocked the strike off her shield and stepped forward again, pushing Sharena back as she poked ahead with her lance.

Marth held up his hand as Chrom raised his blade and set his feet, ready to dive into the fray. "Not yet," Marth said as he watched the situation unfold. As predicted, he watched as Alfonse threw a feint toward Lucina's shield side then stepped back as the quick Commander Anna started sprinting from her position behind, trying to go around Lucina's undefended flank.

"Wait for your opening," Marth said. "You'll know when!"

He pushed his heel into the ground and fired into the fight, coming up behind Lucina's right side and thrusting his sword in to catch Anna's axe as she tried to come in from the side. Marth pushed his blade, sweeping out and pushing Anna back before he stepped forward with his own two strikes, buying a bit of distance off Lucina's heel. He could hear Alfonse grunt, then from the corner of his eye watched the white-garbed prince spin away and make for his back.

 _"Now,_ " Marth thought as Anna twirled her axe and gave him a hard foot fake.

The clang of metal on metal told him that Chrom had correctly seen his opening and jumped in.

The three pairs battled back and forth, throwing and checking strikes. Marth stepped backward on his heels as the quick commander came at him again. He caught two of her slashes and barely parried the third as she simply battled too fast for him. He barely got his blade up in time as the axe came overhead, catching it just above his face as she tried to press it down. He pulled his hand up to steady the blade as Anna inched it closer with both hands.

"Almost... got you," she strained as Marth was losing ground in the clash.

"Chrom!" Marth shouted as the commander's axe got close to touching his forehead.

"Got your back!" Chrom yelled as he shoved Alfonse back with a wide stroke of his sword and then stepped in to assist, spinning around Marth's side and driving his sword across Anna's exposed hip, knocking her out of the brawl.

"Commander Anna!" Alfonse shouted in dismay as he saw his teammate get eliminated, pressing forward and engaging Marth as he spun around to meet the prince.

Alfonse's blows were steady and strong, battering Marth's defenses as he pulled up his blade to defend. As he pulled back a step, Chrom was at his side again, jumping forward to meet Alfonse's heavy blow with a heavy blow of his own. Marth took a breath and wiped his forehead, then pulled out to the side as Chrom and Alfonse dueled and Lucina and Sharena continued to exchange blows.

Marth scanned the fights, watching the two pairs and looking for his next opening to jump into the fray. Instead he saw a different opening.

"Chrom! Lucina!" Marth shouted as he stood on the outs of the fighting. He paused a second, watching as they danced with their opponents, seeing the right moment unfold, "Switch!"

"Right!" Lucina said, accepting the command.

"You got it!" Chrom agreed with enthusiam as father and daughter spun past it each other, back to back, as they traded opponents.

Lucina immediately pressed the prince, driving forward with her lance and following in with a charge from her shield. She pulled the spear back, thrust it up toward Alfonse's side again, causing him to swipe it away with his sword. She pounced on the opportunity, driving her shield across his arm to throw his sword arm further across his body and put him off balance as she recovered the spear and planted it into his armpit, surgically into the joint of the armor.

To her right, Sharena stabbed at Chrom as he pulled his sword across his body in a guard. She thrust one, two, three and as she opened her guard on the third, pulling her shield too far back as she stretched with her lance, Chrom stepped in, inside the reach of her spear. He pulled up and stopped short, gently pressing the dulled point of his sword into Sharena's torso.

"Awwww," the princess whined as she looked at the blade at her stomach, having lost the match.

"You win," Commander Anna huffed in defeat. "Three to zero."

Alfonse sheathed his training sword and looked over at Marth. "I'm a little disappointed," he said. "I thought we'd get to battle. You didn't seem to do much fighting at all."

Marth sheathed his own sword, glancing at the golden pauldrons of his armor, the wings of feathers and the long white and red cape the Order of Heroes had given him.

"I've never been the best fighter," Marth said. "Chrom and Lucina are both much better than I've ever been. The hundreds of years between how we fought in my time and how they fight in their's shows. They can wield Falchion in ways I've never dreamed of."

Askr was such a wondrous place, to allow him to see beyond his own kingdom and his own time to worlds and times he would never otherwise get to see. The best of those had been to see the World of Awakening and to see how Archanea had changed and evolved over many centuries. And, of course, to meet the distant descendants of his blood line. Emmeryn, Chrom, Lissa, Lucina, Owain and Ophelia, they were all amazing in their own way.

"It wasn't me who won the War of Shadows," Marth said. "I never could have done it by myself. I owe everything to my friends and my companions. Knowing their strengths and weaknesses, earning their trust and keeping them safe, that's what I give all the credit to."

Alfonse smiled, looking suddenly abashed.

"My apologies, Prince Marth," he said. "Maybe I've spent too much time reading the legends about your battlefield exploits. But I see now that your strength lies not with your sword, but in your leadership, your support and care for your friends.

"I hope that, someday, I too can learn to become as great a leader as you are."


End file.
